Blog Entry 9 Hero's Quest Film

Azumi: The Ultimate Female Assassin

 

For this assignment, I have decided to choose one of my personal best interesting hero films and a film that closely matched Joseph's Campell's coined term, Monomyth or better known as the hero's journey. Azumi is a historical Japanese fiction film based on the original manga created by Yu Koyama. The film was directed by Ryuhei Kitamura and later released in Japan of 2003. In the beginning of the film, the setting takes place after the battle of Sekigahara during the 1600s in Japan. Tokugawa Ieyasu being the victor had defeated his rivals the Toyotomi clan and  had defeated Ishida Mitsunari's army; becoming the first ruler of the Tokugawa Shogunate. The hero's story begins during the beginning reign of Tokugawa. Azumi is a female assassin raised and trained by an old man, she calls master or "Ji" meaning old man in Japanese. This old master raises Azumi along with 9 other orphaned children (all male) who were victims of the previous war. The children are trained in the way of the samurai, shinobi assassin and live most of their lives up on a mountain.  This raising of the children was a task given to their master named Gessai by a priest named Tenkai in achieving future missions that dealt with a plot to overthrow Tokugawa Ieyasu. 


In the beginning stage of the hero's journey, Departure, Azumi and her 9 comrades had completed their daily training in the woods. One day during a meal gathering their master informs the group that they will soon leave the mountain to start their first mission. The next morning, they are given a final test by master Gessai. This test is a crucial test that will determine which assassins will be able to become successful in completing their missions. As ordered by Gessai, everyone pairs up with a teammate they are comfortable with or deeply bonded to. The master then speaks to his apprentices saying, "an assassin is unable to choose whom to kill... the way of the assassin is to have a mind of steel and become inhuman. Thus, I give you this final test. Slay each other, slay your teammate, kill!" This is the first stage of departure where they must kill their fellow teammate and survive to complete the mission they were trained for since childhood. Azumi is paired with her close partner, Nachi. She hesitates to kill Nachi thus, she refuses the call. When Nachi decides to accept his destiny Azumi sees his determination and she is forced to accept the call killing him. As Nachi is dying, he presents to Azumi his talisman of charm. Which according to him will help guide her in her quest. In the second part of the departure, the 5 remaining assassins stand in front of the graves of their fallen friends and comrades, they burn down their hut, and officially leave the mountain with their master. This is where they begin to leave the known realm and into the unknown. (from left to right bottom picture: Nagara, Amagi, Hyuga, Azumi, and Ukiha.)

 

In the next stage, Initiation, the group leaves the mountain and encounter a nearby village only to witness the slaughtering of local villagers by bandits. Azumi, her friends and their master witness this event and soon the group becomes infuriated yet eager to help the people. However, Gessai forbids them to take action and are forced to become spectators of a massacre. The simple reason Gessai gave to his apprentices is that helping them is not directly involved with their mission therefore, becoming involved in something small will not improve the nation itself. This was the initiation of reality the master had his apprentices experience as young assassins. Soon after the event, they cross and pass through the first threshold only to be surprised by another fellow assassin named Nagato. Nagato is a master ninja sent by priest Tenkai, who had assigned the samurai Gessai in the task of raising a band of assassins. This meeting was held during the aftermath of Sekigahara as they both stood before the fallen bodies of allied soldiers. Jumping back to the present, Nagato holds a letter out to Gessai; this letter contains the names of the three warlords they must eliminate and their goal or primary objective. These foes are, Nagamasa Asano, Kiyomasa Kato, and Masayuki Sanada; all of the named warlords pose a threat to the Tokugawa government yet their goal is to begin a new war in reclaiming the power of Shogun and appointing it to their ruler Toyotomi Hideyori; son and heir of Toyotomi Hideyoshi.

In the road of trials, the team immediately begins their assigned task. Azumi confronts a band of samurai one morning out fishing by the sea; the other assassins hide and watch from behind the bushes. Azumi talks to an elder member of the samurai group who is fascinated by her beautiful appearance. She questions him and asks what he is doing; he goes on talking about the enjoyment of fishing. Azumi sees him struggling and then lectures him on how to catch fish. After forcefully throwing a small stone into the water, a great number of fish are soon caught. He is impressed at her skill in the sport and both formally introduce each other. Yet, when she learns his name she realizes that he is one of the targets she is assigned to eliminate; Nagamasa Asano. Her comrades sneak and attack the guards from behind and Azumi herself is left to assassinate the man whom she must eliminate. From this point out, the other warlord Kiyomasa Kato is the only warlord concerned in the entire film. As soon as Kiyomasa learns of Nagamasa's death he takes careful precaution and hires deadly mercenaries standing in the way of Azumi and her group. (Bottom picture from left to right: Azumi vs. Bijoumaru Mogami.)

The final stage of Return, after Azumi is disowned by her master and is no longer an assassin, she tries to live the life of an ordinary Japanese woman in the era of Tokugawa. Yet, she soon realizes no matter where she runs she cannot hide from the fact that seeing more bloodshed happening will not easily pass and will continue until she can make a great change happen. With determination she goes to the castle of Kiyomasa Kato to go face him yet stands before hundreds of his warriors. She also goes to rescue the surviving assassins and her master. Unfortunately, most of Azumi's comrades had already been slain by mercenaries and bandit groups.  The final and great battle of the film was against the insane narcissistic killing swordsman named Bijoumaru. Instead of having a female temptress like many other films,  here Bijoumaru is a man who represents that role; his literal name translates to "beautiful man". After Azumi triumphs from battle, she sadly witnessess the passing of her own master which was the father figure who had raised her. What Azumi understands to be her own true mission in life is creating peace and doing everything in her power to prevent a civil war happening in Japan. From the film perspective, she has transcended above being just a tool for assassination, she has devoted herself along with her lone comrade survivor, Nagara, as protectors and guardians of the people suffering during this era. Near the end of the film, Kiyomasa is confident about his escape yet Azumi surprises to show herself and cuts swiftly upon him. One of Kiyomasa's subordinates, Kanbei, rushes over witnessing the flame of life leaving his master. Azumi finally ends in the a sunset scene where only two surviving assassins remain to fulfill the final assassination of the last warlord, Masayuki Sanada. 

Image Links

http://www.asianfilmclub.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/azumi1.jpg
http://thecia.com.au/reviews/a/images/azumi-8.jpg
http://www.smh.com.au/ffximage/2004/11/03/azumi_wideweb__430x342.jpg

Works Cited

Azumi. Imdb.com. 2007. Web. April 30, 2010

Azumi. Mysoju.com. 2007. Web. April 30. 2010.

Battle of Sekigahara. Wikipedia. 2010. Web. April 30, 2010.

Tokugawa Ieyasu. Wikipedia. 2010. Web. April 30, 2010.